Current photovoltaic modules and panels available in the market typically include a large number of photovoltaic (PV) cells soldered together using tabbing wire made of high conductivity metal like tin, copper or other metal alloy. The assembly is soldered together using a typical soldering material such as Tin or Tin-Lead alloy. The PV cells are connected in series or parallel configuration to form arrays and then encapsulated in polymer films sealed with glass top surface. The panels may or may not be enclosed in a metal frame depending on the backer material and the manufacturing process. The positive and negative terminating leads from strings of encapsulated solar PV cells are routed to a termination box attached to the panel. External wiring is used to manually string two or more such panels together in series or parallel to extract electrical power from the assembled panels. The output may be fed to an inverter or supplied to a battery bank for charging. These are the kind of panels one typically sees on rooftops and in commercial solar PV farms. The current state of art is static and precludes any reconfiguration of cell interconnections.
The PV panels described so far come in specific large dimensions and electrical power ratings. Such panels are manually connected to each other or an electrical device with electrical wire, usually by a certified electrical technician. If an application requires a non-standard form factor, or has a non-standard power requirement, the user has to solder PV cells together in series of parallel connections and protect the solar cells from atmospheric degradation with suitable encapsulation. Alternatives and enhancements to these static designs, as well as to system installations requiring skilled labor are desired.